Kyle and Brent Pease: Aspiring and Inspiring to Become Ironmen

The recent youtube video featuring Kyle and Brent Pease was created to the tune of "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother." There may not be a tune ever written more fitting to summarize the real-life relationship of athletes, Brent and Kyle Pease.

For those who have never heard of the Pease Brothers, Brent and Kyle are a team of brothers from Atlanta Georgia who compete in athletic competitions despite the fact that Kyle is relegated to a wheelchair, the result of Cerebral Palsy at birth. Brent, his older brother, pushes, pedals and paddles Kyle in 5k's, 10k's, marathons and triathlons to encourage those who witness their accolades that anything is possible.

Through their foundation, The Kyle Pease Foundation, they create awareness and raise funds to promote success for persons with disabilities by providing assistance to meet their individual needs through sports.

Programs may include scholarship opportunities, purchasing of medical equipment or adaptive sports equipment for others. They also contribute to other organizations that provide similar assistance to disabled persons as well as participating in educational campaigns to create awareness about Cerebral Palsy and other disabilities.

As the publicist for the Kyle Pease Foundation, I admit to being pretty amazed and inspired by all the things that these two amazing gentlemen do and say. Last night, Kyle sent me his most recent blog post for his blog "Where There is a Wheel There is a Way" and I immediately realized that hearing it from the horse's mouth is far more inspirational than anything I could ever put to paper. I felt it apropos to share my column space with someone who so graciously shares his spirit with all who know and are inspired by him.

Training with KPeasey

By Kyle Pease

I’ve been finding it getting awfully difficult to fall asleep at night knowing that everything that Brent and I have been working towards is just around the corner. Up until this point the greatest moment of our running career occurred just last month at the Peachtree 10K where we became the first assisted pair in the long history of the race to compete. It doesn’t get any better than the local crowds cheering our names as we travel 6.2 miles through the familiar streets of our home town Atlanta…Or does it?

Now just two months later, Brent and I will make Pease history as we try to have the words Ironman etched next to our names. 140.6 miles through the water and roadways of rural Madison Wisconsin…2.4 miles of swimming, followed by 112 miles on the bike and finished up with 26.2 miles of marathon. Our goal is to break the 17 hour mark which of course would make us forever IRONMEN and though Brent and I are hoping for a time between 14 and 16 hours, I’ll be honest…anything this side of 16:59:59 is good enough.

That one second is the second that differentiates an Ironmen from a couple of guys who competed to become Ironmen.

So for now, as strange as some people find it, I have been training harder than I ever have in my life. Many people think that I have the easy part and though Brent may agree with them while he’s paddling, pedaling and pushing me for 140.6 miles but it is important for me to be prepared for this too. I have never sat on a bike for nearly nine hours and the average human body is not likely to fare too well without proper preparation.

Brent and I go out and train far longer and more often than we normally do in order to get both of our bodies used to that many miles out on the course. I’ve been eating better than I normally do and have been trying to increase my liquid intake. I’m struggling a bit there as I don’t really enjoy drinking water but unfortunately it’s a very important part to stay hydrated and I need to get better at it. It would be a shame if Brent was up to the task but I wasn’t so it is important not to let my brother and my teammate down.

My trainer, Matthew Rose, (yes I have a trainer) tells me to visualize the shoot. The thought of 45,000 screaming fans lining the shoot at the end of the race is something I just can’t imagine despite his efforts to help me mentally imagine what it will be like. That is the golden carrot hanging just in front of me that will motivate and inspire me and subsequently inspire Brent to the finish line.

There’s one very important thing for my readers and our fans to remember though. Becoming an Ironman is not and never will be for or about me and Brent. It’s about our Foundation and the people who we are hoping to inspire. People who see what we are about to accomplish and believe that anything is possible through our efforts.

We are very proud of the Kyle Pease Foundation and take great pleasure in seeing the looks on the faces of the athletes who compete with us. It is exciting to know that through the efforts of a few we have impacted the lives of many. So though Brent and I will be thrilled to wear the Ironman medal around our necks on the evening of September 8th, we really know that the medal symbolically hangs from the necks of all those friends, fans, athletes and sponsors of the Kyle Pease Foundation.

We know that through their continued inspiration and efforts that the only thing that will not be humanly possible is finishing in a second more than 16:59:59.

Off to Wisconsin!

Walking with KPeasey is a campaign affiliated with The Kyle Pease Foundation, Inc (KPF). Walking with KPeasey works to create awareness and raise funds in support of KPF. The Kyle Pease Foundation, in turn, promotes success for young persons with disabilities by providing assistance to meet their individual needs through sports and competition. Programs include scholarship opportunities, purchasing adaptive sports equipment, and participating in educational campaigns around Cerebral Palsy.